DOJ to obey CA on Vhong Navarro case

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Justice would comply with the orders of the Court of Appeals (CA) and file charges against actor and television host Ferdinand “Vhong” Navarro for allegedly raping model Deniece Cornejo in 2014, DOJ Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said yesterday.

“We will obey the courts,” Remulla said when asked for his reaction on the CA 14th Division’s July 21 decision granting a petition for review filed by Cornejo against the DOJ and Navarro.

The CA division ordered the DOJ resolutions dated April 30, 2018 and July 14, 2020 reversed and set aside.

The appellate court also directed the Taguig prosecutor’s office to file charges of rape and acts of lasciviousness against Navarro, saying it is up to the courts to determine, during a proper trial, who is telling the truth.

“It is the trial court that has the unique power and position to observe the witnesses’ deportment, manner of testifying, emphasis, gesture and inflection of the voice, all of which are potent aids in ascertaining the witnesses’ credibility,” the CA said.

“However artful a corrupt witness may be, there is generally, under the pressure of a skillful cross-examination, something in his manner or bearing on the stand that betrays him and thereby destroys the force of his testimony,” it added.

Cornejo filed three separate complaints against Navarro before the Taguig prosecutor’s office for allegedly raping her in her condominium unit on Jan. 17, 2014 and Jan. 22, 2014. In the third complaint, she only provided the DOJ more details on the two incidents.

In a statement on Monday, lawyer Ferdinand Topacio said while it took years for the case to turn in Cornejo’s favor, it showed that “the wheels of justice grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine.”

He said that he and other members of the Citizens’ Crime Watch had always supported what he described as Cornejo’s quest for truth and to expose the lies surrounding this controversy.

He added that when Cornejo was his client, he helped her obtain provisional liberty after she was charged with serious illegal detention by Navarro.